Flowers For Your Grave
by damnmysterytome
Summary: Detectives Beth Greene, Rick Grimes and Javier Esposito are called to a crime scene that is too familiar to Beth to be a coincidence. walking dead & castle crossover. tareth au. rated m for murder.


**Notes: **So I like AUs and I wanted to do a Castle one. I chose to mix the characters, keeping some and getting rid of some, really for the heck of it (also I just really love Javi and Lanie and wanted to use them anyway)! Also, I obviously aged up both Tara and Beth. Tara's around 29 and Beth is 27. (Also, I know it would have made more sense to make Tara be Beckett but I couldn't see Beth as Castle and I could Tara as Castle) (Come on though, EK in a pant suit interrogating you... Can anyone really complain?)

As usual, recognizable characters do not belong to me, but to their respective owners. There are direct quotes from the pilot episode of Castle, which belong to their writers.

* * *

><p>"Murder, mystery, the macabre. What is it about a hard-boiled detective, the femme fatale, and the cold steel of a gun that keeps our bedside lamp burning into the wee hours of the morning? However the spell is cast, tonight we honor a master of the form and celebrate the launch of Dixon Fall." A female voice rang through the rooftop party, a large group watching her speak. The guest of honor, however, had something much more interesting in front of her. Tara Chambler grinned at the beautiful girl in front of her held up a marker and pulled part of her shirt to the side so that Tara could sign her chest. She glanced down at the womans chest, taking the marker from her and leaning forward to sign the girls chest.<p>

When she was finished, Tara grinned at the brunette in front of her. "Find me when you're ready to wash that off." She said before winking at the woman.

"The stunning conclusion to her best-selling Daryl Dixon mystery series, ladies and gentlemen, the mistress of the macabre, Tara Chambler."

* * *

><p>Detective Beth Greene walked up into the crime scene, her heels clicking loudly as she walked towards the body, the scene all too familiar for her. The room was large and white from the expensive hardwood floor, to the paint on the wall and to the ceiling. There was wasn't much in the room, a table in the middle of the room, a single couch and a entertainment center, minus a TV. She did a quick look through the other rooms, each room in the apartment had more things in it than the room where the body was.<p>

On the table sat the head of a young white female with long blonde hair, the hair cascading off the table and landing on the floor. Across the room the womans body was on her knees, arms spread up and tied to fishing line. She was kneeling on a bed of red roses, but Beth was sure there wouldn't be any record of the flowers being bought in the Georgia area The womans body was wrapped up in what looked to be a terry cloth white towel. At first glance, there was no sign of what killed her. She noted medical examiner Lanie Parish was by the body, examining it. If anyone could figure it would, it would be Lanie Parish.

Beth walked over to the table where the girls head was rest, making note of anything that seemed out of place. Asides from the decapitated head, that is. One thing Beth noticed that was definitely out of place was how empty the place seemed to be. Someone obviously lived here, the other rooms had several items in there. Yet this room had barely anything in it, Beth noting the dust lines from the floor not being cleaned. So where was everything? And where was the blood pool from the decapitation? There was no way this is where she was killed.

"Who are you?" Beth mumbled, glancing around for a purse or a wallet. She didn't see anything, but her partners had already gotten there.

"Her name is Alison Tisdale." One of Beth's partners, Detective Javier Esposito, said as he came towards her, holding a notepad in his hand, her other partner Rick Grimes following behind him. Beth was younger than both of them, but she was promoted to Detective just after Rick was two years ago. Javier or Rick would never admit it, but Beth was the better cop. That was why she led the team. "24. Social worker."

"Who found her?" Beth asked, standing to her feet.

"Neighbor's called in a compliant after they tried to get her to turn down the music but no one answered. They had the super check it out and that's who found her." Esposito explained.

"Took his statement when I got here. He said the door was locked from the inside, including the chain. He cut it open so he could get in and that's when he found her. Said he didn't disturb anything." Rick said.

"There's no signs of a struggle... He knew her." Beth stated.

Lanie Parish walked over to her, holding a clip board in her hand. "He even bought her flowers. Who says romance isn't dead?" She joked. This job was dark, you had to find the humor somewhere. Even in death.

"I do. Every Saturday night."

"Lipstick wouldn't help." Beth sent a glare over to Lanie, who held her hands up in defense. "What else did he give her?"

"Two gunshots to the chest, small caliber." Lanie said. "The wound is cauterized from where he decapitated her, but I'm sure that wasn't the cause of death. I'll know more after my autopsy."

"Two gunshots and a decapitation yet there is no blood." Beth said, setting her hands on her hips.

"Crime scene techs haven't found anything, yet. He must have cleaned up really good. Obvious dust patterns, he moved her furniture. Maybe to hide the blood?" Rick suggested. Beth shook her head.

"Isn't this familiar to anyone else?" Beth asked, looking at her medical examiner and two partners. Each shook their head.

"No. But I'm not into the freaky deaths like you are, Greene." Rick said.

"The decapitated head, the body kneeling on roses wrapped in a terry cloth towel? A full apartment, three things in the kill room?" The three adults stared at her like she was going crazy. Beth groaned. "Honestly, don't you guys read?"

* * *

><p>"What kind of stupid bitch kills off her best selling character?" Alisha asked, coming towards Tara as she leaned against the bar with a drink in her hand.<p>

Tara laughed bitterly. "Are you asking as my blood sucking publisher or as my blood sucking ex wife?" She asked, looking up at the woman.

Alisha frowned at her ex wife. "Really? Is that why you killed off Daryl Dixon? To spite me?"

"Please, Alisha, get over yourself. I killed off Daryl because he's gotten stale. Because writing him used to be fun and now it's.. Now it's not."

"Heaven forbid you should work for once in your live, right?" Alisha retorted. Tara rolled her eyes and accepted another drink, sipping it before she spoke.

"Don't worry, thy blood sucking demon. The golden goose is hard at work working on her next best seller." Tara hoped that her ex couldn't sense the hesitation in her voice. If she was being honest, she hadn't even started her next book. After killing off Daryl Dixon, Tara didn't really know what she was going to do. She just didn't want to write Daryl anymore, which was why she killed him. Of course she could have writers block after killing him off.

Alisha laughed, loudly and for several minutes. Tara frowned and crossed her arms over her chest, staring at her ex. "Sorry, sorry. It's just, I heard that you haven't written in weeks."

"That's blasphemy." Tara said and drowned her drink. "The book is coming along quite nicely."

"So what is it about?" Alisha asked.

"That's classified." Tara said, setting her glass down and walked past Alisha to find who she was sure was the source of Alisha's information.

* * *

><p>"Meghan, who does homework while they're at a party?" David Chambler asked as he leaned against the bar next to Meghan Chambler. Fifteen year old Meghan looked up at her grandfather and sighed.<p>

"I have a test tomorrow, Grandpa. Calculus, the scary stuff." She commented, setting her pencil down on top of her books. Her grandfather leaned over, glancing at the books to see what she was studying. He made a face, that math was much different than the math he used to. Times had definitely changed.

"So do I, Princess. You don't see my studying." David said, pressing a kiss to Meghan's forehead. "Give me a hit of the bubbly." He said towards the bartender.

"Make that two." Tara said, coming up from behind her niece and father.

"Hey, kiddo. Sales slippin'? Only serving the soft stuff." He joked.

Tara shook her head as she took the class of champagne from the bartender and took a large drink from it. "Hey, Aunt Tara." Meghan said with a large smile. Tara set the drink down and kissed Meghan's forehead.

"Hi, sweetheart." Tara said. She turned to her father and put on her serious face. "So, father.."

"Shh, not so loud, Tara. I'm still hoping to get lucky." Tara shuddered at the idea of her father having sex. She ignored her fathers statement and continued.

"Did you tell my blood sucking demon of an ex wife that I've been having trouble writing?" Tara questioned.

"Pfft. No, I said nothing of the sort... Okay, I did mention that you spend most of your days moping in your underwear. But you're an artist, so I didn't think anything of it." David said.

Tara groaned loudly and took the champagne class, drowning the alcohol quickly. "We had a deal. You live there, but you don't talk to _anyone _about my work. Especially _Alisha_!" Tara exclaimed. As Tara took another drink, she heard her father mention that he noticed a beautiful woman without a wedding ring and head off to flirt with her.

She set the champagne glass down on the counter, ordering another. Sometimes, she hated book opening parties. "You should have had me committed for letting him move in with me."

Meghan smiled. "I think it was really nice of you." She glanced at the champagne glass her aunt was holding out to her and took it, staring between it and her. "You know I'm fifteen, right?"

"You know when I was your age... Wait, I shouldn't tell you that. You know, which is totally my point here. I have hundreds of inappropriate stories of me and your mom that I can't tell you. Don't you want stories like that you can't tell your niece?" Tara asked, taking the glass from her when she offered it back.

"Aunt Tara, I think you have enough for both of us." Meghan laughed, opening her book again and turning back to it. "Hey, somethings been bothering me." She said before shutting the book once again.

"When isn't something bothering you, kid?" She asked, sitting up on one of the stools next to her niece. Tara could be out partying and finding someone to bring home for the night, but she would much rather be sitting with Meghan. When Meghan was three, her mother (and Tara's sister) died in a car accident. Tara was only seventeen at the time, but she was old enough to take custody of the toddler. She raised Meghan from that point, always making sure that Meghan knew about who her mother was and how absolutely amazing she was.

"Why did you kill off Daryl? It makes no sense, he makes you so much money." Meghan said.

"Life should be an adventure. You want to know why I killed Daryl? There were no more surprises. I knew exactly what was going to happen every moment of every scene, exactly what Daryl was going to say, what he was going to do... It's just like these parties they've become so predictable. 'I'm your biggest fan!' ' Where do you get your ideas?" Tara made a face, waving her hands around as she spoke.

Meghan added onto that. "And the ever popular, 'Will you sign my chest'." She said. She always hated that one, it was just weird to see her aunt doing that.

Tara smirked, glancing down at the champagne class. "That one, I don't mind _that _much." Meghan made a face and scoffed, shoving her aunt's arm playfully. Tara laughed softly and shrugged. "I would totally love if someone came up to me and said something new, something interesting." She said softly, glancing at her glass again.

"Ms. Chambler? A female voice from behind her asked. Tara shut her eyes, took a deep breath and reached into her bra for her pen before she climbed off the stool and turned around.

"Where do you want it?" She asked, using her best 'yes, this doesn't bother me in the least, I truly do love signing chest after chest' voice. Tara stepped back when she came face to face with a very beautiful blonde woman in a pant suit holding up a police badge. _Oh, she definitely does not want me to sign her chest._ Tara thought to herself as she tucked the pen back in her bra.

"Detective Beth Greene, APD, we need to ask you a few questions about a murder that took place earlier tonight." Beth said. Tara dropped her hand and her mouth fell open a little bit.

Meghan poked her head into the conversation, looking between Detective Greene and her aunt. "That's new."

* * *

><p>"Ms. Greene... You've got quite a rap sheet for a best-selling author. Disorderly conduct, resisting arrest..."<p>

"If you had noticed the date on those, Detective Greene, they were around ten years ago. I was a troubled teenager." Tara said, looking away from the blonde detective. She leaned back in the very uncomfortable chair, adjusting to find a more comfortable position. "You know, these uncomfortable chairs will definitely make people give up their information. Quickly and easily. If only I hadn't killed off Daryl..." Tara looked up in time to see a look of surprise and outrage on the woman's face, a small grin forming. Before she was able to make a comment based on the look on Beth's face, Beth sat across from her and spoke, setting out several photos.

"Alison Tisdale, murdered this morning. Do you know her?"

"No, at least I don't think so. I see a lot of faces." Tara said, picking up the photo and looking at it closer. It was a beautiful young woman, but Tara couldn't remember if she recognized her at all. "She's not in my little black book, if that's what you mean." Tara set the photo down and pushed it towards Beth, who replaced it with another.

"What about this man? Marvin Fisk, small claims lawyer." Tara glanced at the photo, shaking her head.

"No.. Look, what does this have to do with me?"

"Fisk was murdered in his office a few weeks ago. I didn't put it together until I saw Alison..." Beth set out another photo and Tara's eyes widened, her breath picking up. In front of her was the murder scene she had created in Flowers for Your Grave. As a famous writer, a copy cat was great publicity – as Alisha would say. As a person, this was sickening. Tara swallowed, it was worse acted out than it had seemed in her mind.

"Flowers for Your Grave.." Tara whispered, shutting her eyes. It was pointless, she saw it again when she shut her eyes. When Tara opened her eyes, there was another one in front of her. She recognized it.

"Right out of Hell Hath No Fury." Beth commented.

"Looks like I have a fan." Tara looked up at Beth and smirked. So this woman was a fan of hers, if she had read two of her worst books. Those were some of the first books she ever wrote in the Daryl Dixon series. She didn't even want to talk about them in interviews, nonetheless have those books be the ones copied.

Beth had to stop herself from scoffing, of course Tara would consider this a fan. "Yeah, a deranged fan." She retorted.

"Oh.. You don't look deranged to me, Detective Greene." Tara teased the woman. "Hell Hath No Fury? Angry wiccans out for blood? C'mon, only hardcore Chambler groupies have read that piece of trash." She went on when Beth looked confused at her statement.

Beth ignored the woman and went on. "So do any of these... groupies... ever write you letters? Disturbing letters."

Tara let out a laugh. "Detective, I write murder mystery novels for a living. I have a whole room in my house just for that. It's an occupational hazard."

Tara Chambler was really pressing Beth's patience. "In cases like this, sometimes we find that..."

"The killer attempts to contact the subject of their obsession. I know this, I'm fairly well versed in psychopathic methodologies, which you probably know if you're a real Chambler Chick. You know, you have beautiful eyes, Detective Greene. And amazing skin."

Beth choose to ignore her comment about her eyes and skin. "So I take it you won't have any objection to us going through your mail?" She asked.

"Knock yourself out. I'd even be willing to offer a hand to sort through it. I read it all, no matter how creepy." Beth had her reservations about letting Tara in on the case, but if anyone knew the creepy fans, it would be the person who received every letter. It seemed that she didn't have a choice but to let the woman help.

* * *

><p>Several days, two suspects and one confession later, Tara Chambler found herself inspired. Inspired by Detective Greene and her team. Inspired by the way she handled herself in a world that was made for men, the way she took no shit. The night that the murderer, the real one, was caught, Tara stayed up all night planning out a new series of books, once again about a detective. This time, about a blonde take no shit detective who <em>always <em>got her man. Like with the Daryl Dixon series, there was going to a lot of research for this. And of course, a reason to be near that beautiful detective.

* * *

><p>Beth Greene knocked on the door to her captains office, stepping in when he waved her in. "You wanted to see me, sir?" She asked her captain, Roy Montgomery.<p>

Roy nodded, finished signing a few more papers and looked up at Beth. "Yes. I just got a call from the mayors office. Apparently, you have a fan, Detective Greene." He said.

"A fan, sir?"

"Tara Chambler." Beth sighed softly and nodded. She had noticed this, too. Tara seemed to really enjoy working with her. And Beth had to admit, it was really fun to work with her favorite author. Even if her favorite author was also an annoying, immature brat who couldn't follow any order she gave. Still, it was fun to work with Tara. "Seems shes found the main character for her next set of novels. A tough but savvy female detective." Tara was going to write books based on her? Beth really didn't know how she felt about that. On one hand, it was really flattering that she was so inspired by her that this is what she chose to do with it. On the other hand, it was creepy that she was going to be sitting at her computer writing about _her. _

"I'm flattered." Beth spoke, folding her hands together.

"Don't be. She says she has to... Do research."

Beth's eyes widened, realizing exactly what her boss meant. "Oh no.."

"Oh yes." Montgomery said, nodding. He opened his mouth to nod towards her desk where Tara was already waiting, but Beth protested again.

"No!"

"Greene, listen.." He started. He knew that she was going to fight him on this, but there was nothing that he could do about it. Tara used her connections with the Mayor to get herself assigned here. It had to be here, there was no other Detective she wanted to follow.

"Sir, please. She's a nine year old on a sugar high that couldn't follow the simplest instruction. She almost got herself killed, several times." Beth argued, crossing her arms over her chest. She actually felt like stomping her feet and whining, this was incredibly unfair.

"But she did help solve this case, the wrong man would have gone to jail had she not gone to jail." Montgomery reminded her. Beth sighed, he was right. She would have never figured out the whole thing was a set up if it hadn't been for Tara Chambler. And the wrong man would have gone to jail, the real killer left out there to kill again if he wanted to. "And when the Mayor's happy, the Commissioner is happy, and when the Commissioner is happy, then I'm happy."

Beth sighed and brought a hand up to her face, rubbing her forehead. "How long, sir?" She asked.

Roy nodded out to the bullpen, where Tara Chambler was already sitting next to Beth's desk, waiting for her to show up. "That's up to her."

Beth Greene turned around to look at her desk and sighed heavily. _I hate my job sometimes. _Beth thought to herself as Tara looked up and made direct eye contact with Beth. Tara raised an eyebrow at Beth and smiled. _This is not going to be fun._


End file.
